TheFutureParty
A Community-based Media Company
BuzzFeed sold First We Feast, the studio behind the popular Hot Ones interview series, for $82.5 million to a group of investors that will let the company run as an independent media company. The Big Picture: BuzzFeed has been hungry to find a buyer for First We Feast to pay down its substantial debt and swat away investor Vivek Ramaswamy’s […]
LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong announced the paper is working on a “bias meter” that would give readers context of any bias in articles and potentially give people a version of the article from an opposite perspective. The Big Picture: With the mainstream media losing trust — fairly or unfairly — among so many Americans, publishers are looking […]
A panel of three federal judges unanimously ruled against TikTok’s free-speech lawsuit that hoped to overturn the divest-or-ban bill… putting TikTok on a path of being shut down in the US on January 19th on national security concerns. Why It Hits: The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed in April, makes it illegal for app stores […]
A 28-year-old UK Instagrammer named Benji has gained virality — and the attention of snack conglomerates — for fooling the internet time and again with fake food flavors that are just interesting or wild enough to be real, potentially. Why It Hits: Satire has been around forever, but the internet has turned it into a bonafide way for […]
YouTube’s annual top trending list shows MrBeast reigns supreme, Kendrick Lamar really rules the airwaves, and Shorts captures the zeitgeist of a very specific moment. The Big Picture: YouTube’s list reveals that while some creators remain stars of the platform, trending topics ebb and flow to match the biggest cultural events. Between the Videos: Ranking as one of the […]
TikTok is planning to bring short-form series to its app in order to capture the attention of its aging audience. The Little-Big Picture: Short-form series have spiked in popularity for ByteDance’s Chinese TikTok counterpart, Douyin. The company now wants to remake that revenue magic for the rest of the world, especially in the US. The only problem is […]
Spotify is making a big push into the creator economy with a focus on video podcasters. Why It Hits: When Spotify announced its investment in podcasting — just the audio kind — it led to a billion dollars in spending, several outsized deals, and major changes in how audiences consume the format. Expect the same dynamics to […]
TikTok, Spotify, and Apple Music have launched a new feature to drive cross-app traffic to fuel discovery and listenership for artists… and even more engagement for the platforms. Why It Sings: For the past few years, music-streaming services and TikTok were growing into sworn enemies — TikTok was encroaching into music, while music streamers were becoming social platforms. […]
Podcasts, TikTok, YouTube, and X are now the new rulers of the influential media landscape, taking the mantle away from networks, cable outlets, and publishers. The Big Picture: While new media formats create a deeper and more direct relationship with audiences, the authenticity of the information being shared is far more “sus” due to the lack of […]
Both employers and workers have embraced TikTok as a hiring platform, positioning the app as LinkedIn for young people looking to show off their creativity in applications. Why It Hits: Swamped job postings on LinkedIn and impersonal AI screenings for interviews have made finding a job not through a personal connection feel impossible. Public TikTok video applications could give […]